A leaked presentation has exposed Microsoft's tentative plans for its retail stores -- and the high degree to which they'll imitate Apple stores, down to their layouts and even the presence of a dedicated "Guru Bar" for help.

After years of financial experts considering Microsoft a safe and stable investment, one analyst now recommends that investors jump ship as Microsoft has been too sluggish responding to attacks from Apple and Google.

In marked contrast to the PC market, where differention primarily centers around gigabytes, GHz, and Intel Inside branding, Apple is working to keep attention on the iPhone's software, with a curious avoidance of any mention of the make or specification of its internals, apparently for competitive reasons.

In a curiously worded statement, AT&T has claimed it prevented the iPhone version of SlingPlayer from using 3G because it would chew too much data -- and because the iPhone is, oddly, not considered a phone.

Apple maintained the third place position in global unit sales of smartphones, but was passed up by Microsoft's Windows Mobile to become the fourth largest smartphone vendor in terms of operating system platforms as it continues to lead the industry in year over year growth.

In its first detailed look at web market share for cellphones, a research firm has found that Apple's iPhone represents a staggering 66.61 percent of mobile traffic while its competitors have only just gained a foothold.

After being humbled last year at the high-profile CanSecWest security conference, Apple faces further scrutiny as the same event organizers not only plan to test the Mac's defenses but, for the first time, the iPhone's as well.

As software giant Microsoft is warning of continued economic hardship after its first round of layoffs ever, the company's chief executive is eyeing competition from Apple, Linux, and Google on the desktop while downplaying the market strength of the iPhone and other opponents of its Windows Mobile operating system.

While playing up the fact that 50 phone makers around the world have licensed the company's Windows Mobile platform, Microsoft inadvertently let it slip out that a full 80% of all Windows Mobile phones ever made have actually come from a single maker: HTC.

Microsoft on Monday made its latest bid to stem share loses in the mobile sector with a new version of its Windows Mobile software that includes an online store for third-party applications and also ties into a new cloud service for syncing mobile data.

After leaving its once-touted background push data feature by the wayside, Apple is now reportedly mulling an option that would let iPhone apps run third-party background processes and give the phone true app multitasking.

Sales of Motorola cellphones collapsed more than 50 percent this past holiday season, forcing the company to announce that it will eliminate another 4,000 jobs as Apple and other rivals loom in the background.

Apple's share of the worldwide smartphone market is closer to 13% than the 16% reported earlier this week, but that's still good enough to push the iPhone maker past Microsoft to become the third largest smartphone OS vendor, according to Gartner.

In addition to outselling a broad and combined range of Windows Mobile handsets, Apple's iPhone 3G is being credited this week as the lone force responsible for growth of the smartphone market during the September quarter.

Often labeled the outsider in the corporate world, Apple's iPhone has already reached the top of J.D. Power's satisfaction ranks for business smartphones -- and is simultaneously the second-largest smartphone maker in the world.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who's watched his company's PC business come under immense pressure from Apple, used a forum this week to discount the Mac maker's potential for future share gains and designate its mobile phone business as a doomed initiative that will "lose out" in the long run.